I’m looking at the calendar, and it seems kind of unreal that the GEICO Bassmaster Classic is only a few weeks away. You might think that being the defending champion this would be on my mind every minute since I held that trophy last February. But to be honest, it’s kind of sneaking up on me.
Don’t get me wrong, this is the biggest thing that’s happened in my career by a long shot. I guess that might be why the past 11 months have flown by. I mean it’s been a busy year, all good – just busy.
They say time passes quicker the older you get, and I think that winning last year’s Classic really hasn’t even sunk in yet. It’s hard to describe how much I appreciate what this has meant to my life, and I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to defending the title next month on Grand Lake.
I guess there’s always the idea that there’s a lot of pressure on the defending champion, but there’s not nearly as much pressure on me going into this year’s Classic as there was last year being the hometown guy on Lake Hartwell.
Last year, everyone expected me to do well. This year, that monkey is on someone else’s back.
You know, going in as the reigning champion isn’t like a football team defending a Super Bowl title. That hardly ever happens in bass fishing.
I’d like to make it two in a row; I can tell you that right now. There wouldn’t be a sweeter thing that could happen to me.
Now, as far as this year’s Classic, I haven’t spent much time on Grand since I was there in June 2007. I was out there before the cutoff, and it was 7 feet high and muddy, so I really didn’t learn anything.
Since then, the lake has gotten even higher, and it’s changed a lot over the last few months. In a way, I think that’s a good thing because it’s going to even the field and play into my advantage.
When I fished on Grand in 2007, I remember everybody talking about how clear the lake was. But I have a feeling that, with all the rain we’ve had lately, the lake’s going to be pretty muddy.
I’m actually excited about this because my mind is set on a shallow tournament. I think it’s going to be one of those rare times when the stars line up and it’s going to be a slugfest.
I think those fish are going to pulling up to their prespawn areas where the water’s going to be dirty and possibly warmer than normal for that time of year. This creates a situation where everybody’s catching fish.
It doesn’t really give the locals an advantage of knowing where this one brush pile is, or that one dock because the high, muddy water changes the whole lake. Some guys might know of this one spot where you can pull up and catch fish, but if the water’s muddy, it’s going to take all of that out of play.
What I’m hoping I can do is ride down the bank and use my Costa Fantail sunglasses to look for any key structure that might key me in on a pattern that I can run throughout the lake. A lot of times, you see something isolated, you flip over there and you catch a 5-pounder. The next day you come back and you do the same thing.
That’s why my glasses are right up there at the top of my arsenal. I might not be sight fishing, but you see little things like that throughout a tournament that actually play a big role in how well you do.
This will be my seventh Classic, and I’ve said a thousand times that I wish I could have my first one back. It was on Lake Hartwell, and I was 23 years old when I fished that event. I was fresh out of the gate and still starstruck. You’re dealing with all the meetings and media and all the hype that leads up to the task at hand. If you’re not prepared for that, it just blows your mind.
The more you fish the Classic, the more you know what to expect and you get accustomed to it. That’s the biggest part of it for me.
So, that’s my initial game plan for this year’s Bassmaster Classic. I’m going to look for the shallow bite and hope I find a pattern that will give me a big limit each day. Next time, I’ll tell ya’ll my thoughts on the excitement of Classic week.